FENTON: This established Irish surname originated in ancient Anglo-Saxon England. It’s a “habitational name” meaning people were called after places they came from – Fenton (various places in Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Staffordshire, and South Yorkshire). • The surname Fenton originated from the Old English fenn ‘marsh’, ‘fen’ + tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. • In Ireland, the surname was adopted by bearers of the Gaelic Irish names Fenaghty (O’Fionnachta) and Fieghney (O’Fiachna). These are found mostly in Counties Cork and Kerry in Ireland.